Christmas Caroling and Other Thoughts

About sixty-five cups of flour later, thirty-four loaves of whole-wheat cinnamon bread were ready for our caroling evening. It has been a yearly tradition to bake some sort of Christmas goodies, and along with a card, we carol to our neighbors. John has our master list of whom we carol to, and we’ve found that Sunday evenings are the best because people tend to be home. Last night was no exception; most of the families were home. We have been blessed with good neighbors and this is a time when we enjoy sharing Christ’s love in song and smiles. Nathan had the idea for candles, so he invented a way (no wax dripping on our gloves!) for us to carry them without them blowing out. However, we did find the cups can catch on fire if not held vertically. They added a very nice “touch” to the singing.

We are also preparing and looking forward to this Sunday evening’s Christmas service in Gypsum, Kansas. We will be sharing through music, testimonies, and a message from Dad. This will be Uriah’s first trip with the whole family.

Although this is a very joyful time for many Christians, I know there are those who are also hurting. I think of a family who lost their newborn baby girl very recently and the ache they must feel. For those of you who have gone through a difficult trial this year, may Jesus comfort your hearts as only He can.

Merry Christmas – our Savior is born!

Joyfully His,Sarah

The first batch of bread was started a little before 11:30 a.m. (after we came home from church), and by 5:30 p.m., the loaves had all been baked and were ready to go!

Finished product!

This is the front of the card we attached to the bread.

This is the inside.

Nathan, Melanie, and baby!

The only two who aren’t in this photo: Dad (who took it!), and Melanie had gone home a little earlier.

16 thoughts on “Christmas Caroling and Other Thoughts”

Can you share your bread recipe? We make bread for our neighbors and go caroling every year, too. We make white bread for the neighbors but as we only eat wheat bread it would be fun to make yours!! Thanks!

Hi Sarah, I was wondering if you would share your cinammon bread recipie. I bought some mini throw away loaf pans to give away for Christmas and was unsure of what bread to make. Cinammon bread seems perfect. Thank you!

Here’s the link to the recipe: http://www.breadbeckers.com/recipes/bread_beckers_bread_and_rolls.htm I double the recipe (which in this case made 9 mini loaves, normally it makes 6 regular size loaves; each dough ball measured almost exactly 1 pound). Also, when I’m adding the salt, in a double-recipe, I put 1/4 cup gluten and about 3 TB. dough enhancer.

After the dough had risen in a large bowl, I divided the dough into portions. Then, I rolled each portion out, spread melted butter, and then put a generous amount of cinnamon sugar filling on it. The next important part is to make sure you roll the loaf tightly, because you don’t want big holes in the bread :-). I then let it rise until I thought it was ready to bake.

I used a cinnamon roll recipe filling: 1 cup brown sugar & 1 tablespoon cinnamon. We made tons of that filling since we were making quite a few loaves!

After the loaves were baked, I brushed a small amount of butter on the tops of the loaves, to keep them soft. Then, about 10-15 minutes later, I spread vanilla frosting on each loaf. It’ll ooze around the edges, so it looks pretty. We used a frosting recipe out of our Betty Crocker cookbook.

I made your cinnamon bread and it was delicious but much more time consuming than I had anticipated. I started at 10:30 and finished at 3:00(clean up and everything) and I only made one batch(6 regular size)! How did you get so many done?!? Thanks, again! Cindy Lee

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Mrs. Lee,

I started around 11:20 a.m. and finished about 5:30 to 5:40. The first two batches of dough I mixed up back to back. I wish I hadn’t mixed them up so close together, as I was having to work to keep up! I also had a lot of help with the clean up :-). I hardly washed a dish! Anna and Mary also helped with some things like mixing up the filling, spraying the pans, etc.

So, the schedule might have looked like this:
11:20 – Mix up first batch
11:50 – Mix up second batch
12:30 – Mix up third batch
12:45 – Put first batch out into cinnamon loaves.
1:15 – Put second batch out into cinnamon loaves.
1:30 – Mix up fourth bath
2:00 – Put third batch out into cinnamon loaves.
2:30 – Put last batch out.
I’m just estimating those times, as I’m not quite sure the exact time frame on how I did them.

You family always inspires me. Thank you for sharing your Christmas card. We also write a Christmas tract every year to mail with our cards. We don’t carol, but we send a card to everyone we know or with whom we worked. Thank you all and God bless.

Hi Sarah,
I pray you and your family had a wonderful Christmas and New Years holiday season. I wanted to know if you followed the recipe exactly as it says on the breadbeckers website. I have never used eggs when making my own bread and was wondering how it tastes.
Thank you,
Rebecca

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Dear Mrs. Rebecca,

My only real modifications are adding (in a double recipe) 1/4 cup gluten and about 3 TB. dough enhancer. The rest is pretty much the same! Yes, I do use the amount of eggs called for.